Bethany has refused to walk a mile in a transgender athlete’s shoes. When questioned about her beliefs regarding her anti-trans stance, she responded to someone’s IG comment and said that she had spoken to some of her friends who are in the LGBTQIA community, which is synonymous with a white woman who says, “I have black friends.”
Anjali Ajmani | Oct 20, 2023
“The philosophy of atheism expresses the expansion and growth of the human mind. The philosophy of theism, if we can call it philosophy, is static and fixed.”
–Emma Goldman
It is not difficult to see what is happening in the United States of America—there is a war on information, a war on the causation of this information, and a war on whether or not we should embrace our children learning about such information. This ‘parental bill of rights’ is backed by the evangelical masses as a necessity because it is the only solution to resisting social justice efforts.
Ron DeSantis has attempted to hammer down the minds of college students in the Sunshine State, claiming that he is one of many leaders who are merely protecting children from some sort of woke mind virus. Other red states don’t want kids learning about Anne Frank, school shootings, sex education, Christopher Columbus, climate change, Emmett Till, drag queens, and, penguins, at least not penguins that have two daddies, something that has been observed across other species who share Earth with humans—though, perhaps, ‘share’ is not the right word, at least, humans cannot be labeled as being a species that effectively shares its space with others. Are we truly sharing this planet with other species if it is our species that punish them the most for the faults of our own young? Are we capable of sharing land with others, or are we just capable of sharing land with those who share similar beliefs?
Let’s go back to DeSantis for a moment. Just the other day, DeSantis announced that Gazans would not be allowed to enter the United States under a DeSantis presidency. DeSantis falsely claimed that Gazans hate the Israeli people and that they are anti-Semitic. Look no further than author, Lauren Wise, who verbally attacked a Palestinian woman, declaring that her children ought to watch her being raped in the street.
Are we doing children a favor by shielding them from controversial topics? Are we encouraging them not to question information? Are we encouraging obedience, submission, and ultimately, silence? Are we encouraging only sunshiny topics at the dinner table? Are we quietly encouraging and condoning bullying? Is this behavior instilling lessons of hate in our young ones? Haven’t we all seen the dangers of preaching derogatory and damaging online rhetoric?
Surfer, Bethany Hamilton’s Instagram posts are largely about overcoming and preaching about how God has used her life since her shark attack. I have discussed the white woman stereotype before, but I want to take this further here.
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo, encapsulates the aspect of white female privilege. Below is the passage from Diangelo’s book.
Whether intended or not, when a white woman cries over some aspect of racism, all the attention immediately goes to her, demanding time, energy, and attention from everyone in the room when they should be focused on ameliorating racism. While she is given attention, the people of color are yet again abandoned or blamed.
Now replace the word “racism” with “gender” in this passage. In Bethany’s second Instagram video, with regard to the WSL’s policy decision of permitting transgender surfers to compete in the category that fits their gender identity, Bethany talks about the cruel and harsh things people said to her in response to what she believed was an opinion that ought to be respected. She asked her followers and fans, AM I JUST A HORMONE LEVEL? This is the white woman crying out for sympathy.
After diving into Emma Goldman’s “Philosophy of Atheism,” it is even more obvious in the world of theists that there is an overall lack of responsibility for one’s own decisions, something that Goldman touches upon when she says, “Under the terrific weight of this omnipotence, man has been bowed into dust—a will-less creature, broken and sweating in the dark.”
While I have asked around if there is free will, I am not convinced that free will is frequently encouraged—the only thing that appears to be encouraged is blind acceptance of God and God’s work. Goldman goes on to say that “Beauty as a gift from heaven has proved useless.”
There is nothing beautiful about hiding what other children might be going through. Bethany Hamilton says that she imagines “it must be a lonely place” (she is referring to the transgender lifestyle), but her solution is keeping transgender surfers in a separate category, only reasserting the effort of keeping a marginalized group of people, well, marginalized. There is no path forward for inclusion when people say things like this. It is a false attempt at sympathy. They say, “We see you, but we do not see you enough to let you join us.” They might as well be saying, “We do not see you at all.” It seems like this is the most pivotal realization in the weighing of actions over words. People only seem to care about actions when it is convenient to their agenda.
Those who do speak up for the rights of marginalized people (including themselves) must further explain themselves, or apologize and convince others that they do not want to step on toes, yet they represent a group who must accept all the toe-stepping and then some.
Check out Schuyler Bailar’s new book, He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters.
Read Anjali Ajmani’s Feb 27, 2023 editorial, Nicely Transphobic.
As much as I wanted to hide on my little island, I decided to enter into the spotlight and I hoped that my story would continue to be a light to others. You can be a light to others in your life if you’re willing to step out of your comfort zone too!
—Bethany Hamilton, Feb 27, 2023
A few weeks ago, I received good news from Oahu about the World Surf League’s schedule. On the call, Carol Philips, surf instructor and owner of North Shore Surf Girls, said that the 2021 season will include the same number of Championship Tour (CT) events for women as for men. This is the first time the WSL has offered gender parity in the CT schedule with 11 events for each division, the most women’s CT events ever included.
In 2018, the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing shattered the glass ceiling by pressuring the WSL into paying equal prize money across all global events. At the time, the WSL did not address the disparity in CT and QS schedules. Since 2015, I’ve been fighting gender discrimination that excludes women from competitive opportunities in California and Hawaii. Unfortunately, the proposed 2021 QS schedule continues a historic pattern of institutionalized inequality with 40 events for men and 32 events for women. Overall, men still have far more opportunities to win prize money and improve their ranking.
Philips also said that women will compete in a CT event on Oahu. This is progress because the North Shore has been completely dominated by men’s competitions for many years. In 2021, the Sunset Open was changed from a men’s only QS event to a CT event that includes a women’s division and a men’s division. It will be held on January 19-28, 2021. Sadly, still no QS events for women in Oahu.
After traveling on my own dime to Oahu numerous times in 2019 and early 2020 to lobby City and County of Honolulu councilmembers and parks officials I badly want tangible results. I’m thankful for the unanimous approval of Resolution 20-12 in support of gender equity in professional surfing and hopeful that the City and County of Honolulu will eventually require a permit condition that insures all professional sports competitions held solely on city/county land have gendered categories with identical playing time and prize compensation for each category at each participant level.
In just four days, some of the world’s top female surfers will gather for the start of the 2021 WSL Championship Tour. The Maui Pro will be the first women’s CT event at Honolua Bay from Dec. 4-15, 2020. Traditionally the women’s CT ended in Maui. Last season the entire CT was canceled because of COVID-19. Moving the Maui Pro up helps insure the event takes place. The men’s CT will start at Pipe Masters on the North Shore of Oahu from Dec. 8-20, 2020. Previously Pipe Masters ended the men’s tour.
More good news, the WSL will achieve parity by adding women to the Outerknown Tahiti Pro from Aug. 23-Sept. 2, 2021. Tahiti will be the venue for surfing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
There will be three women’s and men’s CT events in California. Who’s going? Oh wait, spectators are prohibited because of coronavirus concerns.
Santa Cruz Pro, Feb. 2-12
Surf Ranch Pro, Aug. 12-15
The WSL Finals, Trestles, Sept. 8-17
It’s great to live to see the WSL take meaningful steps to correct decades of gender discrimination. I urge them to adopt new rules that require the same number of events for the women’s division and the men’s division in all CT, QS, LT and JT schedules.
To top it all off, the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing will go digital for the first time with competitors submitting videos of their two best waves from Sunset, Haleiwa and Pipeline for judging. I’m told there will be a women’s division and men’s division in the digital Triple Crown of Surfing. This is the first time a women’s division has been included since 2010. The 2021 contest is open to everyone.
The 2020 CT and Mavericks cancelations as well as the 2021 Tokyo Olympics postponement were disappointing. If the 2021 season goes as planned equality might be here to stay with a bit more effort by advocates, lawmakers and the WSL.
The way I see it, the WSL’s decision to include women in a CT event on Oahu was motivated by the tireless advocacy of a small group of volunteers that included Keala Kennelly, Betty Depolito, Carol Philips, myself and a few other women.
After the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing successfully led the 2018 fight for equal prize money recent achievements in Oahu and in the CT give me hope that full inclusion will become a reality in the not-too-distant future.
To see a list of all CT events checkout the 2021 schedule.
By Sabrina Brennan, founder of Surf Equity, Sport Equity and co-founder of the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing.
On Nov 16, 2020, Sabrina Brennan submitted a letter to the City and County of Honolulu Committee on Parks, Community Services & Intergovernmental Affairs regarding Bill 10 (2020). In her role as founder of Sport Equity she requested a minor amendment that she hopes will help strengthen the bill and make it leading edge legislation.
Brennan said, “I’m hopeful that the City and County of Honolulu will eventually require a permit condition that insures all professional sports competitions held solely on city/county land have gendered categories with identical playing time and prize compensation for each category at each participant level.”
Sport Equity Bill 10 letter
On July 17, 2020, the World Surf League officially canceled the 2020 Championship Tour (CT) and Qualifying Series (QS) season due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“After careful consideration and extensive discussions with key stakeholders, we have made the decision to cancel the 2020 Championship Tour and Qualifying Series seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said WSL CEO Erik Logan in a video released on WSL channels. “While we firmly believe that surfing is amongst the sports best suited for competition to be held safely during the age of unresolved COVID, we have huge respect for the ongoing concerns of many in our community as the world works to resolve this.”
2020 CT schedule:
Women’s 2020 WSL CT Schedule canceled:
Corona Open Gold Coast March 26-April 5, 2020
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach April 8-18, 2020
Margaret River Pro April 22-May 2, 2020
Quiksilver Pro G-Land June 4-14, 2020
Oi Rio Pro June 18-27, 2020
Corona Open J-Bay July 7-19, 2020
Michelob Ultra Pure Gold Freshwater Pro Sept 15-20, 2020
Roxy Pro France October 1-11, 2020
MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Oct 14-25, 2020
Maui Pro Nov 25-Dec 6, 2020
Men’s 2020 WSL CT Schedule canceled:
Corona Open Gold Coast March 26-April 5, 2020
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach April 8-18, 2020
Margaret River Pro April 22-May 2, 2020
Quiksilver Pro G-Land June 4-14, 2020
Oi Rio Pro June 18-27, 2020
Corona Open J-Bay July 7-19, 2020
Tahiti Pro August 26-September 6, 2020
Michelob Ultra Pure Gold Freshwater Pro Sept 15-20, 2020
Quiksilver Pro France October 1-11, 2020
MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal Oct 14-25, 2020
Billabong Pipe Master’s December 8-20, 2020
